U.S. patent number 6,779,210 [Application Number 10/391,985] was granted by the patent office on 2004-08-24 for elevating bed.
Invention is credited to Hugh Kelly.
United States Patent |
6,779,210 |
Kelly |
August 24, 2004 |
Elevating bed
Abstract
A patient's bed has a mattress support 6 carried by two bed ends
each of which has a rise and fall travel beam. The beams stay
parallel to the ground but adopt any inclination in response to an
electric screw drive operated from a hand held cable connected
control.
Inventors: |
Kelly; Hugh (Victoria 3177,
AU) |
Family
ID: |
32869136 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/391,985 |
Filed: |
March 18, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
5/611; 5/11;
5/610 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C
19/045 (20130101); A61G 7/005 (20130101); A61G
7/012 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47B
7/00 (20060101); A47B 007/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;5/11,10,611
;108/147,147.19 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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47184/89 |
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86928/91 |
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3902396 |
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Sep 1989 |
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DE |
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4334343 |
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0 617 945 |
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2674430 |
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95/08315 |
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98/20829 |
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98/43001 |
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99/19247 |
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00/62731 |
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Oct 2000 |
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00/66061 |
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01/17476 |
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Mar 2001 |
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01/45626 |
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Jun 2001 |
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WO |
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Primary Examiner: Trettel; Michael F.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Smith-Hill and Bedell
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A patient's bed of adjustable height comprising two bed ends and
a rise and fall mattress support supported by the two bed ends,
each bed end comprising: an outer frame, a static frame stationary
secured within Lie outer frame and having a pair of styles joined
by an upper rail and a lower rail, a pair of upright, mutually
parallel carriage guides positioned inboard of the styles, a pair
of carriages slidably engaging the carriage guides respectively, a
cross member mutually connecting the carriages and free to ride
between a high position and a low position, the mattress support
being borne by the cross member and free to ride with the cross
member, a nut fixed to the cross member, a screw extending between
the upper and lower rails, the screw being in threaded engagement
with the nut, and a drive mechanism mounted to the bed end and
coupled to the screw for rotating the screw relative to the
nut.
2. A patient's bed according to claim 1, wherein the guides have a
pair of opposed faces and the carriages have wheels which run on
said opposed faces.
3. A patient's bed according to claim 2, wherein the guide's
opposed faces are parallel to one another.
4. A patient's bed according to claim 2, wherein the guides are
square sectioned tubes.
5. A patient's is bed according to claim 2, wherein the carriages
each have two mutually spaced pairs of wheels.
6. A patient's bed according to claim 1, comprising a thrust
bearing mounted to the lower rail and against which the screw
reacts.
7. A patient's bed according to claim 1, wherein the drive
mechanism of each bed end comprises a motor and the motors are
controllable for both synchronous and a synchronous rise and
fall.
8. A patients bed according to claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism
of each bed end comprises a motor and the motors are dc motors with
means to vary the current proportionally to the load.
9. A patient's bed according to claim 1, wherein the mattress
support is detachable from the bed ends.
10. A patient's bed according to claim 1, wherein the rise and fall
of one end of the mattress support is controlled by a pair of
motors.
11. A patient's bed according to claim 1, wherein the mattress
support is capable of inclinations about a horizontal longitudinal
axis.
12. A patient's bed according to claim 1, wherein the outer frame
comprises a pair of legs for supporting the bed, said legs being
vertical.
13. A patient's bed of adjustable height comprising two bed ends
and a rise and fall mattress support supported by the two bed ends,
each bed end comprising: a first leg and a second leg, each leg
having a lower end and an upper end and having a wheel attached in
proximity to the leg's lower end, an upper crossbar joining the
first leg to the second leg, the upper crossbar being attached to
the first leg in proximity to the first leg's upper end and
attached to the second leg in proximity to the second leg's upper
end, a pair of upright, mutually parallel carriage guides
positioned in board of the first and second legs, a pair of wheeled
carriages engaging each carriage guide respectively, a cross member
mutually connecting the carriages and free to ride between a high
position and a low position, the mattress support being borne by
the cross member and free to ride with the cross member, a nut
fixed to the cross member, a screw extending between the upper and
lower rails, the screw being in threaded engagement with the nut,
and a drive mechanism mounted to the bed end and coupled to the
screw for rotating the screw relative to the nut.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention concerns patients beds of adjustable height.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Hospitals and nursing homes devote increasing care to aging
populations. In aging patients, dementia, confusion and behavior
modified by medication, means that even simple operations such as
transferring patients in and out of bed brings some risks. Injury
from falling out of bed is not uncommon when non-elevating beds arm
used. This risk is reduced by introducing beds which rise and fall
so that the patient can sleep close to the floor. When the patient
is ready to stand up, the bed is raised so that the patient can be
seated in the bed with their feet on the floor. Further rising
assists the patient to stand. Their bed movements must be
controlled by staff who use bed movement in combination with
chairs, trolleys, patient lifters and other ancillary equipment
which avoids the need for the nursing staff to lift the patient.
The bed movement at or close to floor level is crucial to
cooperating with such equipment. The carriages of the equipment
must underlie the bed frame during patient transfer and accordingly
the bed frame thickness must be minised because to this thickness
must be added the mattress thickness. Such mattresses commonly have
a concave upper face to centralise the patient and to act as a
Sanity barrier to falling out of bed.
Mattress contouring was introduced to replace the use of cot type
restraints which breached operating protocols concerning the
freedom of the patient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The apparatus aspect of the invention provides a patients' bed of
adjustable height comprising a rise and fall bed frame supported
between two ends, wherein the rise and fall of each end of the
frame is controlled by a motor or an equivalent, wherein the
mattress fay is capable of descending floor.
Patients may spend their sleeping hours at a beat equal to the
thickness of the mattress plus the thickness of the bed fame.
The ends have frame guides which allow the frame to rise and fall
parallel to the ground. The Same may have a mattress support
capable of inclination to allow passage of the bed through a
door.
The end may have vertical guides along which the ends of a cross
bar rise and fall. The ends may support a motor mount, and a motor
may drive a screw which engages a nut on the cross bar.
Preferably the motors are controlled for both synchronous rise and
fall of the bed frame and a synchronous rise and fall so that the
patient can be rested at a desired inclination to assist blood
flow.
The motors may be supplied from a 24v dc power pack with means to
vary the quantity of current proportionate to the load. The fame
may be detachable from the ends for freight convenience.
In an alternative version there may be a motor at each corner of
the bed. In such an arrangement the motors in each may work as
pairs. The frame may be generally planar with a mattress tray.
Conveniently, and in accordance with estabisied practice, the tray
may be hinged between the ends so that the patients torso can be
raised. This is achieved by a ram fixed at the frame beneath the
mattress tray.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS
One embodiment of the invention is now described by way of example
with reference to the drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is an end view of the bed.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an end of the bed.
FIG. 3 is analogous to FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the bed showing normal and lowered
positions.
FIG. 5 shows the geometry of the bed when tilted to the
maximum.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH RESPECT TO THE DRAWINGS
Referring now to the drawings, the bed comprises a head end 2, a
foot end 4 and a rise and fall mattress support 6. The ends are the
same and consist of an internal upstanding rectangular frame 8 made
of bolt together, flanged sheet steel styles 10 and rails 12.
Internal frame 8 supports an external frame made of C-shaped steel
pillars 12 and beams 16. Feet 18 carry castes 20.
The internal frame supports a pair of square section hollow tubes
22 which act as linear motion guides for a pair of cares 24 which
ride up and down the guides. The carriages have wheels which roll
on the front and rear faces of the tubes 22. The carriages each
have a bracket 26 which project through slots 28 in a front
panel(see FIG. 1). The panel extends from pillar to pillar and
corresponds to Ear panel 32.
The brackets 26 are section and support the bed frame 6. The
carriages are linked by a cross member 34 which has a fabricated
nut assembly 36. The cross member rises and falls between the top
and bottom rail 12 and is driven by a screw 38. The screw has a
buttress thread and is seated in a thrust bearing 40 located in the
bottom rail 12. The screw has a square upper end (not shown) which
projects into the socket of a worm and pinion gearbox 42 bolted to
the top rail 12. 24 v dc motor 44 is integral with the gearbox.
LINAK.TM. motors are supplied to the industry by the Swedish
company of that name. They incorporate reed switches (not shown)
for sensing the resistance to the motor torque in order to vary the
current appropriately from a power pack 46 supplied by mains
current in the ward.
The cross member remains parallel to the floor. The mattress
support 6 is bolted to brackets 26. Bearers 48 supports sheet metal
mattress tray 50. The tray has hinge mounts 52 (see FIG. 1). The
mattress tray has a leg section 54 and a torso section 56. The
latter is raisable by a ram 58 underneath the leg section. This ram
is a standard feature of patients beds.
The powerpack 46 supplies motors separately with current via a hand
held control 60. The switch for each motor allows an operator to
impose an inclination on the bed frame at any height. It is
possible for the top of the mattress tray to descend to 90 mm above
the floor. If a patient rolls off the mess, injury is unlikely at
this height If a lifting carriage is wheeled up to the bed, the
frame is raised to allow the carnage to project beneath The after
the height can be adjusted in accordance with the size and mobility
of the patient.
We have found the advantages of the above embodiments to be:
1. Sleeping height may be very close to the floor precluding
injury.
2. A variety of inclinations are possible, eecially when a hinged
mattress tray is used.
3. Simple construction and assembly techniques reduce the cost of
manufacture.
In a non-illustrated version a pair of scow drives at both ends
enable the patient to be tilted out of the bed onto a trolley.
It is to be understood that the word "comprising" as used
throughout the specification is to be it repeated in its inclusive
form, ie. use of the word "comprising" does not exclude the
addition of other elements
It is to be understood that various modifications of and/or
additions to the invention can be made without depart from the
basic nature of the invention. These modifications and/or additions
are therefore considered to fall within the scope of the
invention.
A fluid operated ram and a mechanical jack are examples of
equivalents to the motor and screw.
* * * * *